Father Develops Autism Software After Son’s Diagnosis

Jan. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Columbia, SC -- It was nearly 13 years ago when Karl Smith noticed that his then-2-year-old son had lost his speech and was not learning. After his son started responding to an intensive, 40-hour-per-week ABA program for autism, Smith aggressively sought after computer-based learning programs for his child to learn at least some of what he needed to know on his own time.

Smith attempted to use other computer learning tools, but found the products to be ineffective in helping with his son’s behavioral and educational development. As a result, he put his engineering and artificial intelligence background to use and developed the DT Trainer and Activity Trainer, two highly robust special needs software programs for children with autism and other special needs.

“When I decided to develop a software program for my son and other children like him, I met with various researchers and educators to guide my efforts and also make sure I wasn’t reinventing the wheel ,” says Smith, founder of South Carolina-based Accelerations Educational Software (AES).

“After realizing we were breaking new ground, researchers like Dr. Robert Stromer helped us bring years of behaviorally-based learning research to practice,” he adds.

Smith founded and self-funded AES, eventually leading to many children and families being impacted by the programs, which are now being used in thousands of homes, 250-plus private schools and over 950 school districts across the country. The products have also made early impacts in 3 foreign markets.

“Our programs are currently impacting over 10,000 children with autism and an additional 20,000 with other learning disabilities,” Smith notes. “However, we realize there is a long way to go and we want to make sure our products are available to every child that needs them.”

Because of his passion to see every child with autism using the products, Smith and Accelerations Educational Software have priced the software at a fraction of the cost compared to other similar-sized products on the market.  

“A great product doesn’t do a person any good if they can afford it,” Smith says. “We deliver at least ten times the content for the cost of typical special education software, which enables us to put our products in the hands of a lot more schools and families.

He concludes, “The pricing also makes these tools cost-effective for a much wider range of students, allowing us to impact many other individuals with conditions besides autism.”

For more information, including free 30 day trials of the DT Trainer and Activity Trainer programs, visit http://www.dttrainer.com or call 803-233-0541.

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Accelerations Educational Software (AES) was founded to create effective and affordable software, especially for children with autism and other learning disabilities. AES software is designed for individuals that need virtual one-on-one instruction.